He learned the printing trade, and graduated from Westminster College in New Wilmington, Pennsylvania in 1863.
He enlisted as a private and was detailed for service as a clerk in the U.S. Department of War.
In 1864, he joined his regiment and fought during the Overland Campaign, but soon came down with typhoid pneumonia and was sent back to Washington, D.C. to recover.
He studied law at The Columbian College, D.C., graduated in 1868, was admitted to the bar in 1869, and practiced in Newburgh.
He died on October 1, 1884, at his home at 422 West Seventy-First Street, in New York City, of Bright's disease, and was buried at the Cedar Hill Cemetery in Newburgh.